Talk about the kidlit you're reading!

Britwriter · Jun 7, 2013

Just finished Capture the Flag. I enjoyed it, although it's not so much my sort of thing. Pretty straightforward adventure. I know my 8 & 10 year olds will like it, so will read it aloud to them.

Currently we're almost finished Candy Shop Wars Arcade Catastrophe. I'm really enjoying it, although wondering if there will be a twist at the end. The only thing that bothers me is the dialogue tags, but I don't know what a writer can do differently when there are often several people in a conversation. It makes it grating as a read-aloud, but I guess if you read to yourself it's not so noticeable.

It has made me very aware of my own dialogue tags now, especially in my lower middle grade, where more tags are needed to help the reader along.

sissybaby · Jun 15, 2013

I finished Starry River of the Sky and fell in love with Grace Lin's writing.

This morning I read Prince Puggly of Spud and the Kingdom of Spiff. I'll admit I never looked inside and didn't realize it was written in rhyme, but I have to say I adored it.

I tripped up on the meter a few times, but his rhymes were impeccable, and to be able to sustain that throughout a novel that actually tells a lovely, if ridiculous, story and not be repetitious says something in my book. I quite enjoyed it and smiled throughout the tale.

Morrell · Jun 15, 2013

Just finished & enjoyed Island of the Aunts (U.K. title Monster Mission), a quirky, Dahl-esque 1999 MG by the late Eva Ibbotson. It's full of subversive messages, use of violence to solve problems, and good and evil adults with dangerous foibles, and it's told in an old-fashioned, tongue in cheek, third-person-narrator style. The illustrations by Kevin Hawkes are a perfect fit.

Smish · Jun 16, 2013

I was on vacation last week and took along a copy of Millicent Min, Girl Genius to read on the beach. I liked it. :Thumbs:

Kitty Pryde · Jun 19, 2013

I read "Athlete Vs Mathlete" which was half decent. I'd say it's a short MG for a competent but reluctant reader, or any kid fixated on basketball. One twin is a math nerd and the other twin is a basketball player, but when the nerdy twin joins the basketball team ANTICS ENSUE.

Up next I have a WW2 historical MG called Hero On a Bike which promises to be about bike-riding and thwarting Nazis.

Morrell · Jun 21, 2013

Reading The Wells Bequest by Polly Shulman, companion novel to The Grimm Legacy. It's a fun MG time-travel fantasy with likeable characters and references to H. G. Wells, Nicola Tesla, and various other sci-fi and science-y stuff.

ETA: Finished it! My mini-review is here.

71writer · Jun 23, 2013

In YA I'm reading "Thirteenth Child" & also have "The Far West" by the same author, the next book in that series.
In MG I'm reading "Alex and the Ironic Gentleman" which is very good. Then I have 4 others I just check out to read when I get it done: "100 Cupboards" by N.D. Wilson, "The Clockwork Three" by Matthew J. Kirby, "The Emerald Atlas" by John Stephens, and "The Secret Tree" by Natalie Standiford.

SheilaJG · Jun 24, 2013

Just finished What Came From the Stars by Gary D. Schmidt, and I liked it very much. He is a fabulous writer, and I've loved all the books of his I've read (The Wednesday Wars and Lizzie Bright. I haven't read Okay for Now). This one is a little science fiction-y, which is different for him. It has gotten a very wide range of reviews on Amazon, including a not very kind one from School Library Journal, which I don't really agree with. Has anyone read here read it?

There is one mistake he makes, and it's using one of the biggest cliches in movies - when the villain tells the hero - "We're the same, you and I." It's funny, because I'd just seen this video before reading the book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GH0YPXb49q0

Britwriter · Jun 25, 2013

I just finished One for the Murphys. I loved it so much that nothing else is measuring up right now.

I started Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, but still can't get One for the Murphys out of my mind, so need to leave it alone a while and come back to it.

Kitty Pryde · Jul 4, 2013

I read PS Be Eleven, the sequel to One Crazy Summer. It was good, but not amazing like the first one. It got off to a really slow start. Once it got going it didn't really evolve the characters or their relationships much. The theme was basically Growing Up Means Nonstop Disappointment And Talking To Gross Boys, which didn't seem to match the first book at all.

sissybaby · Jul 5, 2013

Recently read Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli, and Summer of the Gypsy Moths by, umm, someone named Pennypacker I think. Don't quote me on that.

I must have totally missed the boat with Hokey Pokey, for it left me feeling cheated. I kept thinking I was going to like it, but the ending fell flat for my tastes.

I adored Summer of the Gypsy Moths. Not the most believable plot I've ever read, but certainly an emotional one. And the starring roles were both so likable. I so enjoy a book like that one.

Now I'm nearly finished with Hold Fast, and although I really like the book, it is so making me angry.

(sigh) I think I'm going to have to change my profession from writer to reader, because that's all I seem to be accomplishing this summer.

Smish · Jul 5, 2013

Hokey Pokey missed the mark for me too, sissy. Probably because my expectations for Spinelli books are so high.

And I'm definitely more of a reader than I writer. I read a book a week, at least. But I hardly ever write...

JoyMC · Jul 5, 2013

sissybaby said:
Summer of the Gypsy Moths by, umm, someone named Pennypacker I think. Don't quote me on that.

Yes! A middle grade novel by Sara Pennypacker, of the Clementine books! Ooh, I can't wait - thanks for mentioning it!

Smish · Jul 5, 2013

JoyMC said:
Yes! A middle grade novel by Sara Pennypacker, of the Clementine books! Ooh, I can't wait - thanks for mentioning it!

Oh! I skimmed over that part of sissy's post, I guess, since it didn't register with me. The Clementine books are wonderful. I'll definitely have to pick up her MG novel.

JoyMC · Jul 6, 2013

I picked up Summer of the Gypsy Moths! But first I'm going to finish Close to Famous, by Joan Bauer, which I'm really enjoying. I sought it out because it's about a girl with dyslexia, but it's really lovely aside from that plot point. Apparently she's a Newbery Honor winner and has written ten books, but I hadn't read any of them yet. I love discovering "new" middle grade writers I like and suddenly having a huge back list to read through.

Supergirlofnc · Jul 7, 2013

I just read Splendors and Glooms It took me awhile to get into it, but I ended up really enjoying it. Also, I read The Magic Thief. I found it a really quick read and I liked the MC. I went through the whole series in about 4 days!

CheG · Jul 7, 2013

I finished the first Elsewhere book The Shadows by Jacqueline West. Pretty enjoyable.

Morrell · Jul 8, 2013

I read The Girl With the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts, a 1980 MG about a girl with telekinetic powers. I liked it enough to read it straight through. The mc, Katie, is mischievous and appealing, but some people might think she's a brat--and, back cover blurb aside, she does use her powers to hurt people. The story uses more telling than is the fashion now (and there's one awesome POV hop where she apparently sees her own silver eyes.)

It's a little dated. There is a weird scene where a classmate pokes Katie with the tip of his pocketknife, and she telekinetically pushes it back, and it cuts him--and neither of them gets in trouble. Even in 1980, that's ridiculous.

At the end of the book, the four kids (she finds others like herself) are invited to attend a special school where they will either learn to use their powers better or be studied by the government, or something... their parents are going to let the kids decide (yeah, because 9-year-olds are ready for that kind of life-changing decision). There is discussion about whether they would be happier "with others like themselves" or if they need to learn to get along with all sorts of people. In a classroom, this could lead to a discussion of special education practices, or racial discrimination, or... well, you could go a lot of directions with it. And that's where the book ends, leaving it wide open for a sequel, but Roberts never wrote one. She died in 2004, so that is that.

Supergirlofnc · Jul 8, 2013

RuthD said:
I read The Girl With the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts, a 1980 MG about a girl with telekinetic powers. I liked it enough to read it straight through. The mc, Katie, is mischievous and appealing, but some people might think she's a brat--and, back cover blurb aside, she does use her powers to hurt people. The story uses more telling than is the fashion now (and there's one awesome POV hop where she apparently sees her own silver eyes.)

It's a little dated. There is a weird scene where a classmate pokes Katie with the tip of his pocketknife, and she telekinetically pushes it back, and it cuts him--and neither of them gets in trouble. Even in 1980, that's ridiculous.

At the end of the book, the four kids (she finds others like herself) are invited to attend a special school where they will either learn to use their powers better or be studied by the government, or something... their parents are going to let the kids decide (yeah, because 9-year-olds are ready for that kind of life-changing decision). There is discussion about whether they would be happier "with others like themselves" or if they need to learn to get along with all sorts of people. In a classroom, this could lead to a discussion of special education practices, or racial discrimination, or... well, you could go a lot of directions with it. And that's where the book ends, leaving it wide open for a sequel, but Roberts never wrote one. She died in 2004, so that is that.

I read The Girl with the Silver Eyes back when I was a kid in the 1980s. It's definitely a book that I enjoyed and that stayed with me all these years. Maybe I'll reread it. It'd be interesting to see how I felt about it as an adult!

Smish · Jul 9, 2013

I'm reading A Crooked Kind of Perfect for something like the 5th or 6th time. I love that book.

Morrell · Jul 11, 2013

Just finished rereading Harriet the Spy. I'd forgotten what a little sociopath she was! Ramona and Junie B--they're nonconformists, but they mostly mean well. I'm not so sure Harriet does. I owned a copy of this as a kid, and read it many, many times despite the thin plot and mystifying early-60s-New York references. Now, 45 years later, I again found myself unable to put it down, mesmerized by Harriet's unswerving path toward social self-destruction. Obviously, she became depressed and her acting out escalated when the nanny who had cared for her all her life suddenly left. But, really, would getting one letter from her fix things? No life lessons were learned; she continued revealing everyone's dirty little secrets with the school's blessing. Why did Sport and Janie forgive her? And yet, I love it. This is a great example of a story that shouldn't work, but does.

CheG · Jul 12, 2013

Picked up Brian Selznik's Wonderstruck at the library. Haven't started yet, but it should be interesting.

I'm also on the waiting list for Dork Diaries. I picked the WORST time of year to try to get some of these popular books. With school out kids are reading!

scifi_writer · Jul 12, 2013

I just picked up the Strange Case of Origami Yoda. Haven't started it yet, but hope to this weekend. It apparently has multiple perspectives which is why I wanted to read it.

colebooks · Jul 13, 2013

13 reasons why ,although i dont know if it counts

Smish · Jul 13, 2013

13 Reasons Why is definitely YA, but that's okay. We mention YA books in this thread from time to time. I just finished Insurgent yesterday, which is YA.

Talk about the kidlit you're reading!

Britwriter

sissybaby

Morrell

Smish

Reads more than she writes.

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue

Morrell

71writer

SheilaJG

Britwriter

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue

sissybaby

Smish

Reads more than she writes.

JoyMC

Smish

Reads more than she writes.

JoyMC

Supergirlofnc

New fish; Swimming with the current

CheG

Morrell

Supergirlofnc

New fish; Swimming with the current

Smish

Reads more than she writes.

Morrell

CheG

scifi_writer

@scifi_writer

colebooks

figuring it all out

Smish

Reads more than she writes.